That Sneaky Invasive Weed

Last summer I weeded a patch of bishop's weed (Aegopodium) out of one of my flower beds. This invasive grows from the tiniest piece of root left in the ground. Usually I cremate my bucket full of bishop's weed in my wood stove, but it was July. I set the bucket aside. I forgot about it. The bucket looked brown and dead in August. Then it was rained on and became a putrid mess. I forgot about it some more. There the bucket stayed, behind my compost pile, all winter long.

This morning, I wanted to use the bucket, so I picked it up, and little green leaves were sprouting inside the bucket. Now, I took the slightly soggy clump into the wood stove for cremation tonight. This invasive will start growing again the minute my back is turned.

When we are ready to root out the weeds of our mind, we have to be assiduous. We don't need to hate the enemy weed; that's useless, a waste of our energy, and only builds the unwholesome habit of hatred.

We keep our attention on our inner weed patch and perhaps root it out as best we can. And when it sprouts again, as it will, we renew our attention. We refocus our intention: I don't want that weed in my mind-garden, thank you very much. We want the flowers of kindness, patience, and investigation. So we practice kindness and patience toward this unwanted, unwholesome habit. Then, we are building our kindness and patience muscles.

I'll feel the burn tonight when it's chilly.